PA ‘Offers’ Israel: Accept Demands or Face the UN

Abbas tries to climb off a high diplomatic tree and “offers” Israel previously refused non-starters in return for halting its UN ploy.

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Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, 14/09/11 14:59

Map of Palestine according to Fatah-ruled PA

Israel news photo: PMW

The Palestinian Authority tried to climb down a high diplomatic tree Wednesday and “offered” Israel previously refused non-starters in return for not appealing to the United Nations for recognition.

As Western diplomats frantically try to pull a rabbit out of the hat and save the American ”peace process,” Nimmer Hammad, a senior aide to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas tried to show that the Palestinian Authority was generous by offering Israel a choice between immediate acceptance of the temporary 1949 Armistice Lines or a total freeze on all building for Jews in Israel's capital of united Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

He told IDF Radio that President Shimon Peres, who previously was reported to have been secretly meeting with Arab leaders, presented Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu with the ”offer,” which the Prime Minister refused. The government previously has rejected both demands.

The Palestinian Authority, buoyed by voices such as former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and The New York Times, is trying to place the onus on Israel for its own intransigence, for the PA's bypassing direct talks with Jerusalem and asking the United Nations for recognition.

Carter and the Times have indeed blamed Israel for not giving in to PA demands and causing the breakdown in talks which they say led to the present situation.

However, the Palestinian Authority may be getting cold feet. Italy warned Wednesday that a bid to the United Nations would be a ”mistake” and cause “an unpleasant” situation for Western countries.

Qatar, which serves as president of the upcoming General Assembly session, said Wednesday that no formal request for recognition has been made and that it is not usual for such a request to be filed just as the General Assembly begins its fall session next week.

Qatar said that any consideration of a request, if filed, is not likely to occur before October, which would put an end to the hullabaloo about riots and violence later this month because of the failure of the Palestinian Authority to win all of its territorial and political demands.